


What can a dead man do?

by JTaps



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Family Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:19:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28019139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JTaps/pseuds/JTaps
Summary: Tommy's been exiled.What can a dead man do to keep his little brother warm?
Comments: 13
Kudos: 145





	What can a dead man do?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I hope you enjoy this little thing 
> 
> Btw, if you feel like it, follow me on Twitter (@j_taps) for more stuff :)

一Bam! And then, I run as fast as I can and I hide the disc. No! Better yet, I put it in my ender chest. Now it’s safe! No one can take it. Dream could come and kill me, but it’s fine! The disc is safe, nothing bad has to happen.  
The ghost cheers.  
一That’s great, Tommy! You’ve solved it!  
A tender smile crosses the boy’s face, and for a moment (a brief, beautiful moment), his older brother recognizes the happy child he once knew. However, the phantom of a doubt has installed itself in the boy’s eyes for the past days. When Tommy smiles, that doubt remains hidden, dormant, like a sleeping wild animal.  
But there it is again.  
The young boy frowns and looks down.  
一No. That would’ve never worked. I could never run faster than him. He would’ve caught me before I reached the chest.  
The ghost is sad now, too. Nothing seems to work.  
一It’s okay. We’ll find another way.  
Nothing seems to cheer him up.  
Oh, what wouldn’t he do to cheer him up. His smile used to be so bright; you could hear his laughter from miles away. The ghost remembers it distinctly.  
The fire, placed in the middle of the small tent, is dying. No no no, he can’t let that happen. The ghost can’t feel heat anymore, nor can he miss it (you can’t miss something you don’t remember), but he knows humans need it; living humans, that is. Tommy needs it. Sometimes he sees him shivering in the dark, while trying to sleep, and it pains him not knowing what to do those nights.  
What can a dead man do to keep his little brother warm?  
Making a fire would wake him up, and the ghost can’t afford that; Tommy rarely sleeps anymore, and he could swear humans need to rest.  
They don't have any more blankets, the rain ruined them all.  
And he can't hug him, for his whole being is cold. He wishes nothing but to hold the boy in his arms and stop the shivering, but that's been proved impossible. The ghost can't even touch him.  
Tommy is awake now, so fire it is. "I've got this", he thinks, as he slowly blows the tiny flames, "The fire will hug him for me".  
一Maybe if I made an invisibility potion… 一the kid mumbles under his breath, without taking his eyes from his notes.  
一Tommy 一the ghosts says, carefully, while studying the walls that surround them. There's sheets of paper everywhere, with words scribbled on them, hurriedly and carelessly.  
"Talking to Skeppy"  
"Steal the obsidian"  
"Get more netherite"  
"Speed is key"  
"Asking Phil for help" 

Some are angrily crossed out.  
"Speaking to Technoblade sooner- Not trusting Technoblade in the first place!!!"  
"Shutting your goddamn mouth"

Some remain unfinished, like aching truths that one dares not say.  
"Listening to Tub-"

一What if we…? 一asks the ghost, only to be interrupted.  
一No.  
一Okay, but hear me out…  
一You've suggested it before, Wilbur. I don't want to talk about it.  
一But I think you should recons…  
一Stop it, Wil.  
The words die in the ghost's throat.  
一Please.  
"You idiot", Wilbur thinks, "don't ever suggest it again! Don't even think about it!". Now Tommy seems even more miserable and oh my God this is not what he wanted.  
To be fair, he genuinely believes it's the easiest alternative.  
But it upsets him; it upsets Tommy, and the ghost can't help him. So he'll have to remind himself not to ever suggest giving up the discs again.  
一Would you like an apple, Tommy? That always makes you feel better.  
The boy thinks about it for a second, and then smiles, gently.  
一Yeah, I could eat one.  
The ghost quickly searches for the bag of rough brown cloth, while congratulating himself, and takes a red apple out of it, offering it to Tommy. There's only 3 left; he'll have to remember to ask for more.  
While chewing, Tommy begins to take the paper signs out of the walls.  
一What are you doing? 一the ghost frowns 一Don't you want to try again? I'm sure we can think of a better idea together and it's gonna be excellent, Tommy, you'll see, we just have to…  
一I'm tired.  
The young boy crumples one of the paper sheets while unwillingly thinking about what his brother was about to suggest a few minutes ago.  
Giving up the discs.  
Such an abstract concept.  
How could he?  
"He's a ghost", he forces himself to remember, "he doesn't understand". He can't understand that giving those discs up is the one thing he could have never done. Wil can't understand how an entire friendship is attached to those discs; Tommy himself can't truly understand it, either. How could his brother know? How could he know that losing the discs would mean losing his best…?  
Silence. Tommy barely remembers to breathe.  
It's okay, he thinks. He'll think of another scenario tomorrow, a better one. He'll find the way none of this ever happened. Where he never got kicked out of his home. Where he was never abandoned. One where his sole company isn't a dead man.  
He probably won't sleep, anyway, so he's got time to think.  
The ghost sits by the fire, while the boy stands up.  
一Where are you going?  
一Outside.  
Wilbur stares at him, anxiously wringing his hands.  
一Don't worry, Wil. I just want to look at the moon for a moment. 一he says, before leaving.  
The night seems to be darker than usual, and Tommy shivers in the cold, as he contemplates the night sky. The moon is still there; she hasn’t left. Not yet. The kid closes his eyes, and at the same time the breeze gently blows against his hair, a face appears in his mind. He remembers a brown-haired boy, with bright blue eyes, who he once held close to his heart. He remembers him saying “it’s not the first time I’ve had nothing!” on the day of the explosions and the ghosts. Oh, how they laughed.  
Tommy chuckles bitterly. That boy (the one who laughed and cared, who turned his back, who he should’ve listened to, who he still loves with all his heart) had no idea what having nothing really meant.  
Tommy contemplates the night sky with his back turned on the ghost, and right then and there the ghost remembers days long gone.  
The young boy has grown so much taller, but he still resembles that happy child Wil remembers so well. From behind, that is. When Wil can't see his wet eyes and broken lips. When he can't hear his sore voice.  
Oh, how his voice would sore from laughter when the twins sparred with wooden swords.  
As if the mere thought summoned him, a man in a crown and a red coat approaches the tent. He reluctantly follows the light cast by the fire; he's not sure if his little brother's there. If he is, the man would have to turn around. Tommy won't talk to him, no matter how much they silently miss each other.  
Silence is what unites the three brothers' mourning. Each one quietly missing what they've lost.  
Technoblade unconsciously wrings his hands while standing outside the tent, awkwardly waiting for someone to find him. His twin brother's ghost notices him and quickly approaches, smiling. Tommy's nowhere to be seen.  
It still hurts to see Wil; the bloody hole in his coat, which their own father put there, reminds him of things he'd rather forget. Some nights, he still hears suffocated sobs coming from inside Phil's room.  
一Technoblade!  
一Wilbur.  
He hands the ghost a heavy bag of rough brown cloth he's been carrying.  
一Thank you! Tommy will love these!  
一I think it's best if he…  
一If he doesn't know you brought them, I know.  
Silence.  
The ghost carefully examines the young man's face; his brother still won't look at his eyes.  
What can a dead man do to make his brother feel safe around him?  
一Come inside!  
一I can’t stay for long 一Techno says, as he walks inside the tent 一, I just came to…  
He suddenly stops. Wil turns around to see his brother stunningly observing the signs placed in the walls.  
一W-what’s this?  
一Oh! That’s Tommy’s new little game!  
Techno frowns, confused. Maybe even...sad? “Please, not you too”, the ghost thinks.  
一Wilbur...this is no game.  
Technoblade sighs. This is so much worse than the last time he visited them.  
一Of course it is! He said it is! What else could it be?  
“A cry for help”, the man in the crown thinks.  
“Tommy’s spiraling into madness. Please, not him too”.  
The kid has been going back to his last days in L’Manburg over and over again, imagining new scenarios, thinking about the different ways things could have gone; things he could have done differently so that none of this would have happened. He must have spent so many days on this, judging by the number of paper sheets.  
So many sleepless nights.  
He’s been torturing himself, replaying his memories in his head, changing every single detail in order to get a happy (and imaginary) ending. He’s always been so perseverant, so stubborn, his brother remembers. And now he’s using his stubbornness to change what cannot be changed.  
“Get more netherite”  
Techno wasn’t there when Wilbur lost his mind.  
“Shutting your goddamn mouth”  
Tommy was.  
“Not trusting Technoblade in the first place!!!”  
A familiar, sickening feeling of guilt grips his stomach a little tighter. It’s been there since the day of the fireworks, no matter how many times he’s told himself all of this isn’t his fault. Something about the pain in Tommy’s voice when he yells he hates him; an unsettling secret in Wil’s innocent yet astute smile.  
Something that makes him feel the word traitor may suit him better than he’d like.  
The young man doesn’t know if the shivers down his spine he starts feeling are due to his dead brother’s presence or the desperate words scribbled in paper notes that surround him.  
一Has he been sleeping?  
The question caughts Wilbur by surprise.  
一What?  
一Tommy. Have you seen him sleep lately?  
The ghost doesn’t want to lie, so he stays silent.  
一You have to make sure he does. You have to keep him from killing himself.  
Wil shakes his head.  
一Tommy would never…  
一Promise me.  
Techno stares directly into his eyes for the first time in weeks.  
一I promise.  
The man in a crown looks away; he seems relieved to escape the ghost’s eyes.  
一Alright, I’m gonna go now. I’m gonna come back in a few days to check on you.  
一Okay, Technoblade! Thanks for the apples! Tell Phil I said hi!  
Techno nods, hesitantly, and heads to the entrance. The golden crown’s glow reminds the ghost of happier times; back when the crown was made of paper. Back when his brother could look him in the eye and smile.  
But before going, Techno suddenly stops. He turns around, without looking at Wilbur, and proceeds to take off his coat. His brother stares, frowning.  
一The kid’s feet are always cold 一the young man says, as he leaves the heavy cloak on top of one of the chests.  
He leaves, without saying another word.  
Tommy probably won’t accept it, but at least he tried.  
He knows Tommy would’ve yelled at him if he had seen him, but a part of him wishes he did. A part of him longs to see his younger brother, he longs to hear him scream in anger, telling him to go and never come back. He wishes to see those vibrant eyes that now hate the sight of him; those eyes he and his twin brother remember seeing on a much smaller, happier face.  
Silent mourning.  
The next morning, Tommy wakes up in his bed, wrapped in the red coat he knows so well. But he doesn’t reject it. Instead, he holds it closer.  
The ghost observes from a distance, while searching for some wood.  
What can a dead man do to bring his family back together?


End file.
